Major Retailers that Support NFC Payments

[tmiw]

about 8 years late.

and hundreds of thousands of (IMO preventable) deaths from a pandemic. I mean, it's good that contactless (cards and otherwise) is somewhat used now, but other countries didn't need anything like a pandemic to happen first. It's why I'll never truly be happy about it even if the US ended up reaching 100% usage tomorrow.

On that note, I almost think we'd have been better off just doing QR payments like what China did; at least we'd have had a chance of better merchant adoption early on (as admittedly unlikely as that'd have been).

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

and hundreds of thousands of (IMO preventable) deaths from a pandemic. I mean, it's good that contactless (cards and otherwise) is somewhat used now, but other countries didn't need anything like a pandemic to happen first. It's why I'll never truly be happy about it even if the US ended up reaching 100% usage tomorrow.

On that note, I almost think we'd have been better off just doing QR payments like what China did; at least we'd have had a chance of better merchant adoption early on (as admittedly unlikely as that'd have been).

The pandemic certainly forced most of the remaining little corner shops here to adopt contactless I have to say. All the major retailers have had contactless since around 2008 in the UK so the likes of Apple Pay have been used since they were released back in 2014. Surprised to see some major retailers in the US are only just moving to it.

 

[cub850G2]

The tweet I saw said the location was in Newport, which is in Kentucky, and I think the only Kroger stores in Kentucky are actual Kroger's. Maybe he's BS'ing, who knows. But there was another person who said two weeks ago that a Kroger division would start adding apple pay in two weeks, so it tracks. Also, there are three other uses reporting the same thing. I wish I had a Kroger near me so I could check myself. I imagine will get more reports in the next few days if it's true.

Here's a report.

Twitter users indicate Kroger stores have begun accepting Apple Pay

Kroger has supposedly made a big move and change to its grocery stores. Twitter users have indicated that Kroger has flipped the switch at some of its stores and has begun to accept Apple Pay. Select Kroger-owned stores King Soopers and Ralph's began accepting Apple Pay in November 2022. In 20

appleosophy.com

I checked out my local Kroger banner store and no dice so far as of 04/12. But in a week I'll be going to King Soopers stores that have had contactless for months now.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Always amazes me how far behind America are with this but good to see you guys are finally seeing it more, albeit about 8 years late.

It's not a matter of "far behind" as much as we just have some major players who have dug their heels in and refused to participate, even in spite of the pandemic.

 

[lartola]

and hundreds of thousands of (IMO preventable) deaths from a pandemic. I mean, it's good that contactless (cards and otherwise) is somewhat used now, but other countries didn't need anything like a pandemic to happen first. It's why I'll never truly be happy about it even if the US ended up reaching 100% usage tomorrow.

On that note, I almost think we'd have been better off just doing QR payments like what China did; at least we'd have had a chance of better merchant adoption early on (as admittedly unlikely as that'd have been).

And in some other countries even the pandemic didn’t make people change. Example: Mexico. There, although there are lots of other alternatives, the overwhelming majority still prefer cash, and not even the pandemic made that change at all.

 

[lartola]

It's not a matter of "far behind" as much as we just have some major players who have dug their heels in and refused to participate, even in spite of the pandemic.

It’s both. You also still have, for example, most sit down restaurants taking people’s cards away from thair sight when the rest of the world has moved on to using wireless terminals and process payments at the tables. You still have many gas stations only accepting magnetic stripe and the pump. You still have movie theaters whose self service kiosks for buying tickets only take cards via magnetic stripe (example: new Cinepolis luxury movie theaters in Florida). All that puts the states far behind other countries.

 

[Böhme417]

It’s both. You also still have, for example, most sit down restaurants taking people’s cards away from thair sight when the rest of the world has moved on to using wireless terminals and process payments at the tables. You still have many gas stations only accepting magnetic stripe and the pump. You still have movie theaters whose self service kiosks for buying tickets only take cards via magnetic stripe (example: new Cinepolis luxury movie theaters in Florida). All that puts the states far behind other countries.

This still blows my mind. As rampant as card fraud/theft is, it boggles my mind that we tolerate handing a stranger our card to disappear with it for who knows how long at restaurants.

I don't remember where it was specifically, but I was recently sitting at the bar at a large chain restaurant, watching them swipe all the cards. Wtf.

 

[tmiw]

And in some other countries even the pandemic didn’t make people change. Example: Mexico. There, although there are lots of other alternatives, the overwhelming majority still prefer cash, and not even the pandemic made that change at all.

I don't fault people for still using cash. It at least has privacy going for it and can cost less to accept, especially if you're a small enough business. Plus the many who would really have a difficult time with finances otherwise.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It’s both. You also still have, for example, most sit down restaurants taking people’s cards away from thair sight when the rest of the world has moved on to using wireless terminals and process payments at the tables. You still have many gas stations only accepting magnetic stripe and the pump. You still have movie theaters whose self service kiosks for buying tickets only take cards via magnetic stripe (example: new Cinepolis luxury movie theaters in Florida). All that puts the states far behind other countries.

That’s mad. I can’t remember in my country the last time I handed my card to someone and certainly wouldn’t do that in this day and age. We’ve had wireless terminals for paying in restaurants since 2008 and it’s absolutely standard probably across every restaurant in the country here. Even small independent restaurants have portable terminals for card payments. The magnetic strip on the back is also something I haven’t had to use for well over a decade. So why was the States so reluctant to modernise it’s banking practices? For such a developed country it’s very odd.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I don't fault people for still using cash. It at least has privacy going for it and can cost less to accept, especially if you're a small enough business. Plus the many who would really have a difficult time with finances otherwise.

It was a bit different at the height of the pandemic though as places that only accepted cash tended to lose a lot of business as people simply were reluctant to handle things others had. The pandemic certainly forced the rest of the small retailers to come up to date with chip and pin and contactless/Apple Pay practices in the UK. Interesting that this wasn’t the case in North America though.

 

[echopulse]

The UK is a small country compared to the US, and there are thousands more independant resturants here than there. Right now there are only about 8 top 100 retailers that don't take contactless, and 1 more is adopting it starting this week. Another one or two are said to be turning it on this year. (Kroger, Lowes, HEB) So there will only be 5 left: Wal-mart, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Menards.

 

[tmiw]

It was a bit different at the height of the pandemic though as places that only accepted cash tended to lose a lot of business as people simply were reluctant to handle things others had. The pandemic certainly forced the rest of the small retailers to come up to date with chip and pin and contactless/Apple Pay practices in the UK. Interesting that this wasn’t the case in North America though.

There are places that went card only for sure, but probably not nearly as many as elsewhere due to the longstanding dislike of cards (especially by smaller shops). There was even one donut shop near where I live, for example, who held out on being cash only until about a couple of years into the pandemic. They take cards now, but charge extra for the privilege of course.

The UK is a small country compared to the US, and there are thousands more independant resturants here than there. Right now there are only about 8 top 100 retailers that don't take contactless, and 1 more is adopting it starting this week. Another one or two are said to be turning it on this year. (Kroger, Lowes, HEB) So there will only be 5 left: Wal-mart, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Menards.

That just means that the transition period is longer. The problem is that we didn't even bother starting with EMV (much less contactless) until (a) our cards started becoming incompatible with everyone else's and (b) high profile security incidents forced our hand. Heck, I'm not even sure (a) alone would have been enough.

 

[lartola]

It was a bit different at the height of the pandemic though as places that only accepted cash tended to lose a lot of business as people simply were reluctant to handle things others had. The pandemic certainly forced the rest of the small retailers to come up to date with chip and pin and contactless/Apple Pay practices in the UK. Interesting that this wasn’t the case in North America though.

It was in the US and Canada. Just not in Mexico because people are more stubborn and won’t move away from cash (or can’t).

 

[lartola]

The UK is a small country compared to the US, and there are thousands more independant resturants here than there. Right now there are only about 8 top 100 retailers that don't take contactless, and 1 more is adopting it starting this week. Another one or two are said to be turning it on this year. (Kroger, Lowes, HEB) So there will only be 5 left: Wal-mart, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Menards.

which merchant is that one adopting contactless starting this week?

 

[echopulse]

Kroger. Lowes is supposed to be turning it on in the next few months, and HEB by the end of the year. Between the 3 of them, that's 5,000 additional stores.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The UK is a small country compared to the US, and there are thousands more independant resturants here than there. Right now there are only about 8 top 100 retailers that don't take contactless, and 1 more is adopting it starting this week. Another one or two are said to be turning it on this year. (Kroger, Lowes, HEB) So there will only be 5 left: Wal-mart, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby, Winco, Menards.

I don’t think it’s anything to do with the countries size or the amount of retailers but everything to do with the UK’s banking system adopting the technology early like we did with chip and pin in the decade prior. Australia is an even smaller country again and had a higher adoption rate due to banks promoting contactless terminals being used throughout the retailer sector from 2007 onwards. The same method was used in the UK and now the likes of Apple Pay and contactless is used in pretty much every shop, restaurant and pub in the country. It’s probably more of a challenge to find an establishment that doesn’t take it.

The US have often been tipped as being about a decade behind Europe in regards to banking practices as the very fact it’s been admitted in this thread that swipe payments are still accepted highlights this. Not that this is a competition, it’s good to see progress for our American friends.

 

[compwiz1202]

They take cards now, but charge extra for the privilege of course.

I'd prefer this 1k times over than not taking them at all, especially when it is just for under a certain amount.

 

[dontwalkhand]

I don’t think it’s anything to do with the countries size or the amount of retailers but everything to do with the UK’s banking system adopting the technology early like we did with chip and pin in the decade prior. Australia is an even smaller country again and had a higher adoption rate due to banks promoting contactless terminals being used throughout the retailer sector from 2007 onwards. The same method was used in the UK and now the likes of Apple Pay and contactless is used in pretty much every shop, restaurant and pub in the country. It’s probably more of a challenge to find an establishment that doesn’t take it.

The US have often been tipped as being about a decade behind Europe in regards to banking practices as the very fact it’s been admitted in this thread that swipe payments are still accepted highlights this. Not that this is a competition, it’s good to see progress for our American friends.

I am in the US, and I’ve been pleased with the progress so far, that I probably used my physical card maybe 2 times a month. Everywhere I go has either contactless (Apple Pay) Or QR Code (Walmart, sit down restaurants). And my ID is in both Apple Wallet and an app now. My last convert was our bus/rail system which finally got mobile passes just this February. I now leave the house without my wallet constantly and don’t miss it. I still bring it most of the time because there are a few times for some reason Apple Pay would decline, but insert the chip and…it goes through. I’m even using the Apple Card, lol.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I'd prefer this 1k times over than not taking them at all, especially when it is just for under a certain amount.

I would take my business elsewhere. Too many options to play those games.

 

[lartola]

I would take my business elsewhere. Too many options to play those games.

Still. it’s not surprising that the merchant did that. Clearly, if they held out of taking cards for so long it was because they didn’t want to pay the fee to the card networks. It’s not surprising that now that their hand was forced into taking them they want to pass the fee on to the customers. That is, unless they were holding out so they could conceal some of their cash income from the IRS to save on taxes. It happens all the time here in Mexico.

 

[compwiz1202]

I would take my business elsewhere. Too many options to play those games.

Yea I won't go anywhere twice that doesn't take CC.

 

[tmiw]

I was able to tap my phone on the reader at the USPS kiosk yesterday, so it looks like that's finally working. The manned counter had NFC for a bit, though.

 

[echopulse]

For the first time, I was able to use Apple Pay at the pump at the local Suncao/Stripes Gas station. They have had readers for years, but they always declined. Today it worked. I'm going to check the other 2 stations in town next time I fill up.

 

[prss14]

Just used Apple Pay at my local Kroger. That took long enough.

 

[cub850G2]

Just used Apple Pay at my local Kroger. That took long enough.

Are you in the Louisville area which for sure has contactless? I wonder when all Kroger and banner will get it. Also Harris Teeter now has contactless as well so probably within a month or less now all banners should have hopefully.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1651655922140192796